Method of making a composite baking mold

ABSTRACT

A composite baking mold comprising a plurality of individual mold spaces is made by extruding elongated portions of aluminum or other light metal and cutting off the portions perpendicularly to their longitudinal axes and assembling the cut components by welding or riveting to form lengthwise and cross-width components defining the partial molds of the composite mold.

The present invention relates to composite baking molds having aplurality of individual mold spaces. In prior-art methods ofmanufacturing such molds the various partial molds forming the moldingspaces for the dough to be baked are attached by riveting to specialsupporting bars to form a composite mold. This method requires arelatively large number of work operations and makes the manufactureconsiderably more expensive.

An object of the present invention is to simplify this manufacture andto reduce the manufacturing costs. The method according to the inventionis essentially characterized in that elongated portions of aluminum orother light metal are produced by extrusion, and each portion is cutperpendicularly to its longitudinal axis to form a component having alength corresponding to the length or width of the mold. Thesecomponents are then assembled by welding or riveting so as to form sidewalls, end walls and bottom walls defining the partial molds of thecomposite mold.

In order to increase the rigidity of the composite mold and the partialmolds, certain of the elongated portions may be provided during theextrusion operation with at least one reinforcing bead extendinglongitudinally of the elongated portion, and the components areassembled to form the mold in such a way that the sides provided withbeads will form the outer side of the composite mold and/or the partialmold, respectively. Furthermore, other elongated portions may beprovided at one side during the extrusion operation with flatlongitudinal ridges and the mold is then assembled with the sides havingsaid ridges forming the underside of the bottom wall of a partial moldso that the ridges will reduce friction and wear when the mold is movedon a support.

In order to simplify the manufacture still further elongated portionsmay be shaped during the extrusion operation with a U-section in orderthereby to pre-manufacture the side and bottom walls of the partialmolds, the side members of the U-section being provided on the outsidewith at least one reinforcing bead extending longitudinally of theelongated portion and the base of the U-section being provided at itsunderside with flat ridges extending longitudinally of the elongatedportion.

Preferred embodiments of molds manufactured according to the inventionare shown in the appended drawings, where

FIG. 1 shows seen from above a mold according to one embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 2 sows an end elevation view of the end wall of the mold in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a partial bottom view of the mold in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross section through a mold according to FIG. 1 where themold is provided with a detachable top;

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of a mold top having a strip ofreleasing material at the inside thereof;

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view on a detachable mold of the typedisclosed in FIG. 4 and having two partial molds.

The mold in FIG. 1 contains four rectangular upwardly open partial molds10 which are arranged in parallel with open interspaces 11. In theembodiment shown the mold is composed of two elongated section bars orportions 12 and 13 produced by extrusion from aluminum or othr lightmetal, and four short U-sections 14 (FIG. 4) produced by extrusion fromaluminum or other light metal, said U-sections forming side walls 15(FIG. 4) and bottom walls 16 (FIG. 4) of the partial molds 10. At themanufacture the section bars or elongated portions 12, 13 and theextruded U-sections 14 are cut off perpendicularly to their longitudinalaxis so as to form blanks corresponding to the length and width,respectively, of the mold, whereupon the ends 17 of the U-sections areunited with the bars 12, 13 by riveting or welding so that they areparallel with each other and separated by the open interspaces 11.

As shown by FIGS. 1 and 2, each section bar 12, 13 in the partial molds10 and each side wall of the U-sections 14, respectively, on the outersides thereof are provided with reinforcing beads 18 and 19, extendingin the longitudinal direction of the bar and the U-section,respectively, and as appears from FIGS. 3 and 4, the base portion of theU-sections 14 forming the bottoms of the partial molds 10 are providedon the underside with flat ridges 20 extending in the longitudinaldirection of the U-sections and reducing the friction and wear when thebread mold is moved on a support. Both the beads 18 and 19 and theridges 20 may be produced at the extrusion of the section bars and theU-sections, respectively.

In the embodiments disclosed in the drawings, the side walls 15 of thepartial molds 10 are disposed vertically, but it is to be understoodthat in a manner known per se the side walls can be arranged to convergetowards the bottom 16 of the respective partial mold.

At the fermentation of the dough steam may form between the dough andthe upper portion of the mold. As a result of this, the surface finishwill wear more quickly in this part of the mold. This may be avoided byusing a mold which can be disassembled according to FIGS. 4 and 6 inwhich case it is only necessary to treat the upper portion of the moldanew when this has lost its releasing ability.

The side and end walls of the mold may be provided in such a case with adetachable attachment or top 21. For retaining the top on the mold thelower margins of the said top and the upper margins of the side wallsand end walls of the mold or each partial mold are complementary shapedat 22 (FIG. 4), i.e. there is for instance formed a circumferential,V-shaped protruding portion at the lower edge of the top 21 and aV-shaped groove is formed at the upper edge of the side and end walls ofthe partial mold or the composite mold. Said V-shaped portion and grooveextend also over the empty spaces 11.

According to FIG. 5, instead of having a top for facilitating themaintenance of the mold there may be provided a silicone coated stripmaterial 23 mounted in a recess 24 at the inside of the side and endwalls at the upper margin of the partial mold.

As can be seen from FIG. 6 an opening 25 to the empty space 11 isarranged in the portion 12. A corresponding opening is also arranged inthe opposite section bar or portion 13. The purpose of the opening is tofacilitate the handling of the mold. Similar openings are arranged inthe mold according to FIG. 1.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of making a composite baking mold havinga plurality of individual mold spaces, said method comprising the stepsof extruding light metal to form an elongated bar, extruding light metalto form an elongated section, cutting said bar perpendicular to itslongitudinal axis to form a plurality of bars having the samelongitudinal dimensions, said longitudinal dimension corresponding tothe length of said composite baking mold, cutting said sectionperpendicular to its longitudinal axis to form a plurality of sectionshaving the same longitudinal dimension, said longitudinal dimensioncorresponding to the width of said composite baking mold, affixing saidsections to said bars at their engagement in a configuration such thatsaid bars are spaced and are parallel to each other and said sectionsare spaced and are parallel to each other, said sections being disposedperpendicular to said bars and engaging said bars at each end thereof.2. A method of making a composite mold as in claim 1, wherein saidfixing is by riveting.
 3. A method of making a mold as in claim 1,wherein said affixing is by welding.
 4. A method of making a compositemold according to claim 1, wherein said elongated sections are extrudedin a substantially U-shaped cross-section, said U-shaped sections beingaffixed to said bars with the open side of said U-shape facing upwardly.5. A method of making a mold as in claim 4, wherein said U-shapedsections are extruded with longitudinal ridges located on the lowersurface of the bottom portion thereof.
 6. A method according to claim 1,wherein said sections and said bars are extruded with a reinforcing beadlocated on the side walls thereof.
 7. A method according to claim 1,further including the steps of extruding said bars in two separateparts, said parts being detachably connected, and extruding saidsections in two separate parts, said section parts being detachablyconnected.
 8. A method according to claim 1, wherein a strip ofreleasing material is attached to said bars and said sections at theinside top margin of said individual mold spaces.